As radio access technologies (RATs) continue to evolve, efforts have been made to provide higher throughput for data transmitted via wireless networks. For example, some modern RATs, such as Long Term Evolution cellular RATs, are designed to provide high throughput to end user applications by using advanced physical layer techniques, such as receiver diversity techniques, including multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO), adaptive modulation and coding scheme (MCS) techniques, and hybrid automatic repeat request (HARM) techniques.
While these advanced techniques satisfy goals of providing higher throughput for modern data intensive applications, even on mobile networks, usage of such techniques can significantly increase power consumption by a wireless communication device, thereby reducing battery life. In this regard, receiver diversity techniques utilize multiple receiver chains to support features like MIMO, which results in increased power consumption. As receiver diversity techniques implemented in modern RATs are generally always used by default, even in instances in which device usage characteristics at a given point in time do not require the higher throughput that can be provided through usage of receiver diversity techniques, device usage time between charges can be significantly reduced and user experience can be negatively impacted.